I bought a live work unit in Kentlands and found that the City inspectors had signed off on it as meeting all code requirements.

Surprise surprise.

The fire dampers had been installed incorrectly and were jammed open. Wet sprinkler pipes were run through unheated areas without wrapping them with insulation causing them to burst and flood the house. The single stairwell from the 3rd floor apartment in which I lived was called a death trap by a Montgomery County fireman when the broken sprinkler pipe brought him to my house in the middle of the night lights and sirens blazing.

I called Mr. Ossontt and Mr. Burnette. They were totally uninterested in the $12,000 I had to spend fixing a building the City certified as OK for occupancy. They just wanted to know the name of the firefighter who told me that we would all die if there ever were a fire.

It is time for all of us in Gaithersburg who are know that things can be better to speak up. Let’s tell them to cut it out. No special favors. No tolerating squandering tax money on waitresses which grows to writing sexual harassing emails and finally the graduation to blasting .357 magnum rounds through your neighbor’s wall only feet from his head.

Why is this OK? Which of the six pillars of character counts covers using city workers to solve personal problems of those “related” to our leaders?

Am I really the only one out here who feels like screaming BS when I hear “..the greatest City in the world”?

Call me the Ross Perot of Gaithersburg. Tell me I am Don Quixote and these are only windmills. But if look at other cities, they don’t have the constant drone of repetitive, embarrassing, bending of the rules and ignoring things that would get anyone else fired.

Leadership.

We need new leadership.

It is not that anyone is a bad person, but when you have been part of the machine for decades, your first instinct is to defend it at all costs even when it is in need of repair. Watch the Sept 14th video of the Economic Development work session.

It is time to stop believing that it is the economy, that Cosor is just a whiner, externalizing responsibility. Defensive attacks against those who also love this City. The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things.

I am watching the last Mayor and Council meeting where you received the report on Committee effectiveness. I am also mindful of the recent disclosures in the media of awkward real estate deals/rentals about which all of you have professed some level of ignorance.

In that context I would like to suggest that the Mayor and Council deal with some of the difficult issues facing our City. I cannot remember a single meeting where the topic was Crime. Reports from the Chief do not count, I am talking about a work session where taxpayers get to provide input and, most importantly, the Mayor and Council focus on primary issues, not niceties.

It is my suggestion that we avoid the tough tasks and put a happy face on the issues facing Gaithersburg. Our budget has been balanced for the last three years by spending millions of dollars out of our reserves…something that will make life next year more difficult than I think you anticipate. This town now is used to stabbings, shootings, armed robberies, and most citizens do not feel safe in Gaithersburg after dark. And now the news: City Staff have had unsupervised control over millions of dollars of assets (rental houses) and tens of thousands of dollars (rental revenue) and tens of thousands of dollars of expenses (maintenance on rental houses).

We tout the awards that we have received for our financial reporting. Is that a smokescreen? How is this not the most important topic for a City that has shed another $3,000,000 of its reserves?

My suggestion to my friends of the Mayor and Council is that you start to see yourselves as the Board of Directors of the City for its stakeholders, the taxpayers. And, as the recent financial crisis on Wall Street has shown, without oversight of a strong board of directors, the risk of a disaster is increased.

My observation of the clubby relationship between the Mayor and Council reduces your stature as our agents overseeing a $50,000,000 company, The City of Gaithersburg. There needs to be more healthy skepticism and less blind faith in the reports, daily packets, and verbal assurances you receive from City paid staff. I believe that “Trust, But Verify” should be the watch word.

In closing, I would like to suggest that at least one topic of importance be included at each meeting. While the architectural details, building set back, Committee assignments, our multitude of parks that are draining our financial reserves, and free concerts and plays are fun to talk about; the City is undergoing devastating changes that may relegate Gaithersburg to a point where the budget expenses spiral out of control and revenues plunge as a result of more business losses.

Triage is the concept here. If you want to be able to say that Gaithersburg is truly the greatest City in the World without those within ear shot doubling over with laughter, I am suggesting that there is tough work ahead. And I see no indication that it is even on the radar screen.

In closing, I do recognize that you are committed to the City. I believe that you feel that there is little reason to change what is the focus of our efforts. But drive around our City and look at all the neighborhoods. Do so at 1100 PM and see what it is like for folks outside of the Kentlands. And please drop any conversation about the Aquatic Center. The City needs to get out of the Theme Park business once and for all. We spend a million dollars more on parks and recreation than we do on the police. By following the money, you have spoken about your priorities. Are they what you intend?

Thank goodness we have Sonya Burke of the Town Courier and Patricia Murret of the Gazette Newspapers to do the hard research that should have been done by others. I, for one, thank these two women for letting us know that our financial house and human resources house is not in order.

What follows was printed in the Gazette today:

Three city employees are leasing city-owned houses at rents well below market rates, to the dismay of city leaders, who did not know the properties existed. In one case, the arrangement dates nearly three decades, without a lease.

The housing arrangements include:

- A 3-bedroom, 1,728-square-foot house on Dogwood Lane is leased for $350 a month to one of the highest-paid employees, including overtime. Similar homes in the Deer Park neighborhood are rented for $1,500 to $1,700 a month, according to a real estate agent. The house recently failed a routine inspection. Repairs are in the works, according to city officials.

- A 925-square-foot 2-bedroom house on South Frederick Avenue is rented to an equipment operator for $704 per month.

[Brett originally posted the entire article from the Gazette, but I’ve truncated it for copyright reasons. The whole article can be found here: http://gazette.net/stories/08052009/gaitnew210831_32521.shtml –GB]